Panda Wireless PAU09 did the trick (dual band). I still use a 20ft USB extension cable. It's so nice not to have to battle wifi/networking prior to imaging.

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Thanks all.

I ordered a different usb adapter to try (dual band). If this fails, I'll give the netgear extender a shot.

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I figured out ASTAP and I think Ekos could help.

It seems passing options to ASTAP via the "Options:" text box under Ekos' Align tab are ignored if edited. The only options supported are the ones defined in the Ekos configuration GUI when you press the little edit button. I would suggest that this text box become disabled or let the user override it after a warning.

I was able to overcome the limitation by creating a bash script:

#!/bin/bash
/opt/astap/astap -r 90 -fov 1.62 "$@"

I then poined Ekos to this script after giving it execution permissions (chmod +x script.sh).

Thanks all.

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On an ideal night, I mount my rpi4 to my HEQ5 and operate it remotely from about 50ft away over wifi. I don't think this distance is unreasonable for an external wifi dongle with antenna (I'm using a Panda PAUO6 ). It seems that when the mount moves or when I just barely touch it, it loses the connection. To make it even more frustrating is that I have had nights where I don't haveto think about wifi. It worked flawlessly. For what it's worth, I live in a remote area so there is little interference outside of the mount itself.

Here is what I have tried:

1. Buying a new mesh point and placing it as close as possible to my setup
2. Used a different rpi4
3. Used different (admittedly crappier) wifi dongle
4. Using a USB extension cable
5. Used a powered USB hub
6. Use a dedicated power source for the rpi4 and hub (I usually use a DC hub)

Yep, it's the North American Nebula. I have installed the g17 database. I am able to plate solve other images.

When I uncheck Use Position and Use Scale, Astro.net works.

When using ASTAP directly, if I use auto FOV, it works. Takes a while but it works. Subsequent attempts are super fast. I just need to figure out how to explicitly set the FOV from ekos.

Thanks for taking the time to point me in the right direction.

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I have tried to plate solve this image last night to resume collecting data. ASTAP and Astro.net both failed and I can't seem to figure out why. It works when I use nova.astrometry.net site. Can anyone help? I tried increasing the search radius but no luck. Also no luck when solving from ASTAP directly.

www.dropbox.com/s/uzks8nhvfwuyjpf/NAN_Light_300_secs_014.fits

Thanks for any help.

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Wow, I sure do not regret asking this. There is so much information packed into the replies. For the record, I'm using the default settings. I only tweaked the settle value.

I plan to set up again tonight and try the advice offered. Thanks Hy and Doug.

I will also start a temperature vs position log. I can see how this would help seed the focus. This is a brand new RASA 8 from OPT so I suspect it doesn't suffer from the focus issues from the first batch.

I hope my gratitude shows through. I genuinely appreciate your replies.

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Hi all. I am wondering what your autofocus plots looks like. I am new to this hobby and for all I know, this could be normal. I was expecting more of a V shape based on what I have read about autofocusing. When I run autofocusing, I usually see a mash of very similar measurements. I would imagine a small step size and starting out close to the optimal focus will result in plots like mine but I'm not sure. Can anyone comment?

The attachment is from tonight using a RASA 8 with a ASI533mc. I am using a ZWO EAF driving a feather touch. I have had very similar experience using deepskydad v3 with a RedCat so I suspect this is normal.

Hello all,

I have bee using astroberry fora few months now with a star tracker. I upgraded to an HEQ5 and have been trying to figure out how to do a meridian flip. Last night, I was imaging the Veil Nebula and was expecting a meridian flip around 1am. The flip occurred but something went wrong. I attached 2 images, the last exposure before the flip (veil.PNG) and the first image after the flip (noveil.PNG). As you can see, the mount ended up pointing somewhere else.

I have tested this functionality indoors by pointing to something just east of the meridian and checking the flip checkbox in ekos. The flip is attempted but it ends up no where near where it should. In my test, I started near DRACO and ended up near CYNGUS.

My routine is usually 1) set up mount. 2) add OTA. 3) polar align. 4) slew to target. 5) plate solve and sync. 6) setup phd2. 7) start imaging.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

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Hello all,

I have bee using astroberry fora few months now with a star tracker. I upgraded to an HEQ5 and have been trying to figure out how to do a meridian flip. Last night, I was imaging the Veil Nebula and was expecting a meridian flip around 1am. The flip occurred but something went wrong. I attached 2 images, the last exposure before the flip ( viel.PNG ) and the first image after the flip ( noveil.PNG ). As you can see, the mount ended up pointing somewhere else (this can be seen in the Capture.PNG screenshot where the EQMod Mount shows the position of the Veil and the yellow fov box shows where the scope ended up after the flip).

I have tested this functionality indoors by pointing to something just east of the meridian and checking the flip checkbox in ekos. The flip is attempted but it ends up no where near where it should. In my test, I started near DRACO and ended up near CYNGUS.

My routine is usually 1) set up mount. 2) add OTA. 3) polar align. 4) slew to target. 5) plate solve and sync. 6) setup phd2. 7) start imaging.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

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